ASUS RoG Crosshair VI Hero
$369 | WWW.ASUS.COM/AU Welcome to the AM4 chipset!
AMD has always prided itself on maintaining a resolute socket type, requiring only a BIOS update to enable its latest performance powerhouses to operate with impunity. Which has meant that both chipset updates and connectivity have suffered.
With the launch of Ryzen and the AM4 socket, on the other hand, it seems this state of affairs may be changing in the rouge ecosystem. Taking a quick glance at AMD’s X370 chipset and comparing it to Intel’s Z270, you’d be justified in feeling slightly underwhelmed. It’s only when you take a look at what Ryzen (the processor) directly supports that you get a better understanding of how this platform will work. By default, all of Ryzen’s 7 series will support four USB 3.0 ports, four USB 2.0 ports, 16 Gen 3.0 dedicated graphics PCIe lanes, an additional four PCIe 3.0 lanes for “general use” (read: “NVMe SSD”) and an additional four PCIe 3.0 lanes for chipset communication. Which brings it close to its Kaby competition, although without support for more than a single M.2 PCIe SSD.
Now ASUS’s Crosshair VI Hero is the first X370 mobo we’ve had in the labs for testing, and it’s just about everything we want in a ‘ board. With support for DDR4 up to 3,200MHz, two 16 PCIe 3.0 slots, eight SATA 6Gb/s ports, a single M.2 PCIe x4 port, a plethora of fan headers and a snazzy rear I/O, it’s very good value for money. There’s no integrated graphics support, but to be quite frank, it’s not needed with any of the three processors. The VRM solution is substantial, and having an eight-pin EPS power, plus an additional four-pin 12V CPU power, has allowed this mobo to clock up to 5.2GHz with some record-breaking chips.
The biggest benefit the Hero has over its competition, though, is down to the cooler support. AM4 has, rather annoyingly, come with an ever-soslightly different mounting solution from its AM3+ predecessor’s design. However, the Hero has mounting holes for both AM3+ and AM4 coolers.
Although we can’t give any word on comparative performance just yet, overall, it seems solid in contrast to the Intel alternatives, and we’re happy to give it our seal of approval for anyone looking to get into the new AM4 platform.